So the Edmonton Oilers probably wanted to cover their eyes yesterday when they woke up to find themselves dead last in the Western Conference. But head coach Pat Quinn says now is not the time for burying heads, but rather the time to take a closer look at everything.

"This is a business where you have your ebb and flow, that's the way it always is," he said before last night's loss to St. Louis further cemented their status. "Whether it's the team or the individuals, there certainly are some good and bad days."

You can guess which these are.

"Our challenge here is trying to become a better team," said Quinn. "It's not just the last three years -- this organization, since 1990, has missed the playoffs half the time. So there's a lot of looking at what needs to be done here, and who are the people that are going to get the job done.

"We're still trying to learn how to be a team. Our system of play has been identified for a long time, what we want, but we're not getting it lots of times. The question is why is that? Is it skill? Is it the mental part? Can we not figure this thing out?"

Clearly, they are still trying to find out who they are and what they have.

"We have a team here that hasn't really established itself," said Quinn. "We had all those injuries early, we had new guys on the team that were still trying to make it ... we've had as many as 30 guys here in Edmonton, 10 of them not able to play for injury reasons or sickness.

"We've had a goofy lineup from the start. Now it's a little more solidified, although we've lost a couple of key guys. We're still trying to find who are the 20 guys who should be playing every night.

"We're sitting here in 15th place and it's not a happy place," added Quinn. "Nor should it be a happy place."